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Six years into a Democratic administration widely seen as pushing a secular agenda, nearly three-quarters of Americans say religion is losing influence in American life and about half say churches and other religious institutions should express their views on political issues. The findings, from a new Pew survey, underscore a persistent pattern in American politics: During conservative administrations, the public tends to become more liberal and during liberal ones, more conservative. In this case, only about three in 10 Americans see the Obama administration as “friendly to religion.” About four in 10 rate the administration as neutral and another three in 10 call it...

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Six years into a Democratic administration widely seen as pushing a secular agenda, nearly three-quarters of Americans say religion is losing influence in American life and about half say churches and other religious institutions should express their...

Ian Paisley, the thundering Protestant preacher who helped fan the sectarianism of Northern Ireland’s “Troubles” but went on to lead a power-sharing government that included some of his most bitter Catholic enemies, died Friday in Belfast. He was 88.
His...

In recent weeks, politicians and pundits have likened the Syrian and Iraqi civil wars to the Thirty Years' War and the other so-called religious wars that divided Europe in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. It's easy to see what gave rise to the...

Divorce is higher among religiously conservative Protestants – and even drives up divorce rates for other people living around them, a new study finds.
The study, slated to be published in the American Journal of Sociology, tackles the “puzzling paradox”...

I purchased my copy of the 2014 Almanac of American Politics (only $90) Tuesday and immediately started browsing through the profiles of members of Congress. As always, I found myself focusing on the religion of the senators and representatives, a...

By about 2-1, Americans accept the idea that “humans and other living things have evolved over time,” but as with so many issues these days, answers to that question have taken on a growing partisan cast.
According to a newly released survey by the Pew...

Constitutional issues involving the separation of church and state are full of paradoxes, and Wednesday’s argument in the Supreme Court over prayers at town meetings illuminated one of them.
The justices were reviewing a federal appeals court’s ruling...

As officials in Arizona and the rest of the nation continue to wrestle with the legal and legislative issues connected to same-sex marriage, a new poll shows that support for allowing gays to marry has rapidly increased since such unions first became...

RICHARD J. DORSOTalent agent, TV exec, boutique owner
Richard J. "Dick" Dorso, 101, whose lengthy Hollywood career ranged from talent agent to television writer and producer to haberdasher, died April 6 at his home in Los...

Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger leads a list of 19 so-called "stakeholders" who will meet with President Obama at the White House to discuss immigration reform Tuesday afternoon. FOR THE RECORD An earlier version of this story incorrectly...

Poly StyreneSinger in the punk band X-Ray Spex
Poly Styrene, 53, the braces-wearing singer who belted out "Oh bondage, up yours!" with the punk band X-Ray Spex, died Monday, according to a statement on her website.
Styrene,...

The Rev. David Wilkerson, an evangelical pastor who founded the Teen Challenge ministry and wrote the best-selling book "The Cross and the Switchblade," died Wednesday in a car accident in East Texas. He was 79.
Wilkerson's car smashed...

Garret FitzGerald, who as Ireland's prime minister in the 1980s was an early architect for peace in neighboring Northern Ireland, died Thursday at a Dublin hospital, the government and his family announced. He was 85. The cause was not given.
FitzGerald,...

Mark O. Hatfield, whose 35 years as Oregon's U.S. senator illuminated his conviction that Republicans could be God-fearing conservatives and also passionate advocates for ending wars and racial discrimination, has died. He was 89.
Hatfield died Sunday in...

He may be down in the polls but Rick Perry still has more money to spend than most of his rivals. On Thursday he went on the air in Iowa with a 30-second TV spot aimed directly at that state's potent bloc of evangelical Christian conservatives,...

The Family Leader, an influential political organization among the religious voters who dominate the Iowa caucuses, is not endorsing a candidate in the presidential contest, but two prominent evangelical leaders backed Rick Santorum on Tuesday.
Bob...

The Rev. John Stott did not fill stadiums with the faithful like his longtime friend, Billy Graham, or give the invocation at a presidential inauguration, as megachurch pastor Rick Warren did for Barack Obama. Yet he was a giant of the evangelical world —...

Silicon Valley, the politically liberal technology hub, is an unlikely incubator of conservative Christian activism.
But a group of its venture capitalists is backing an ambitious project that seeks to affect the 2012 election by registering 5 million...

Being artistic director of a major regional stage company means you get to give everyone "notes" — theater lingo for putting in your two cents while a play is being readied. Being Marc Masterson, newly arrived as South Coast Repertory's artistic...